Kyle’s cauliflower recipe is uncomplicated and surprising… Just like Kyle! 😉 I kid, I kid 😉 But seriously, this dish is scrumptious. I was sneaking bites when Kyle showed me how to make it at his apartment in NYC. When we re-created it for the Impatient Foodie shoot, the cumin-spiced florets were gobbled up within minutes (always a good sign). Even though my Italian relatives might yell at me for mixing cheese with fish, I think this would go great with my whole fish en papillote and a simple green salad. Kyle said he likes to serve it to dinner party guests as they arrive for drinks. Either way, it’s damn good.

I feel very lucky to have known Kyle for most of my life. He made a film with my mother, titled Blue Velvet, when I was 3 years old and I’ve known him ever since. I’ve only seen Blue Velvet once when I was waaayyyy too young, and even though I still feel like crying whenever I see Dennis Hopper’s face in films, Kyle is so cool, fun, charming and down to Earth that I was able to separate the character from the reality, even as a small child. Also, Kyle likes to talk about dogs a lot and I do too, so we have that in common. If Kyle looks familiar, but you can’t quite place him, I’m sure you’ve seen him in shows like Portlandia, How I Met Your Mother, The Good Wife, Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City, or (a personal favorite) Twin Peaks (just to name a few.) He continues to have an incredible career because he is, obvs, a hugely talented actor.

Additionally, Kyle is a MAJOR foodie and wine connoisseur. In fact, Kyle likes wine so much that he started his own fantastic wine label, Pursued By Bear (@ppbwine). Kyle’s grapes come from his home state of Washington (in Walla Walla), and it’s a real passion project for him. I love tasting wines with Kyle because he makes it fun and interesting. Honestly, I tend to get bored when people wax on and on and about wine flavors and aging barrels etc, but Kyle really takes me on a journey and has made me appreciate the wine creating process. His enthusiasm is totally contagious! I’m sure the fact that Pursued By Bear is rated a 91 by Wine Spectator (meaning, “Outstanding: a wine of superior character and style”) doesn’t hurt either.

Ingredients

NOTE: Kyle recommends a cast iron pan or a ceramic baking dish for this recipe, but we used a simple metal pan for our shoot and that worked too!

Instructions

Set oven to 425 degrees F.

Wash cauliflower & dry with a paper towel.

Separate florets from the stems. Reserve florets in a bowl, discard stems.

In the bowl with the florets, add the olive oil, salt, cumin, parmesan, and breadcrumbs. Toss with the cauliflower florets to coat well.

Grease a baking pan with olive oil and place one layer of florets into the pan.

If there are additional cauliflower florets, use a separate pan to bake them – One layer is important here to cook properly!

Dust the florets with some parmesan before putting the pan into the oven for about 1 hour. Stir every 20 minutes or so. You want the cauliflower to be very brown with crunchy bits before you remove from the oven to eat.

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About Elettra

Elettra Wiedemann is the founder of Impatient Foodie, a food site that navigates her desire to marry Slow Food ideals with the realities of fast paced, urban life. Within just a few months of launch in summer of 2014, Impatient Foodie was featured in numerous publications including Vogue, The New York Post, The Daily Mail (UK) Elle US, Elle China, Yahoo Food, Yahoo News, Madame Figaro, and Racked, ManRepeller, and Food & Wine Magazine.